The Dead of the Night
by solongandthanksforallthefish
Summary: Four high profile disapearences and an ominous note spark the NCIS team into action, and what happens when one of their own is threatened? Short Case Fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, the characters or anything, sadly, I wish I did though.

This is just a short Case fic, there won't be any pairings or anything like that, just a story about the functions of the NCIS Team. Thanks for reading, please review if you feel like it. Cheers.

Just Blackness. Amelia was curled up in a corner, probably of a room, she couldn't tell, she couldn't see. There wasn't even a flicker of light to help illuminate the room, just complete and utter darkness. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard footsteps gradually getting louder. A door creaked open loudly, groaning in protest. A light flickered on, Amelia was almost blinded by how bright it was. She couldn't make out much, just blurs of black, grey and lighter grey, but of what she could, she could see them. She was not alone.

DiNozzo looked at his phone, as if trying to scare it so it would stop ringing, he wasn't even late yet, he just wasn't quite on time, but he never was and McGee knew that. He ignored it, collapsing down onto a chair and flicking the TV on. His phone buzzed again and Tony chucked it across the room with a groan, it bounced on his sofa before landing on the floor. The neighbourhood dog had barked all night, and all he wanted was one more minute, just one more minute before he had to face the gridlock on the morning commute to work. He closed his eyes and ran his hands through his messy hair as a familiar news story popped up on the News, and as he heard it, Tony realised why McGee was trying to contact him.

"You may have heard of three high profile disappearances in the last three days. Young women, stolen from their homes in the dead of night. Lillian Cox, Anna Newman and Brianna Ireland, gone without a trace" The newsreader said "We can now reveal to you a new development in the case. Metro police have handed control of the investigation to NCIS after a fourth woman, Amelia Sampson, disappeared this morning at 1am in the same circumstances. If you have any information on any of the women, we ask you please call the hotline bellow."

DiNozzo groaned, hauling himself up from his chair and quickly turning off the TV, grabbing his phone off the floor, his gun and badge of the table and he headed out the door.

The elevator door open and DiNozzo walked quickly out and over to his desk, throwing his bag down and sitting quickly at his desk.

"Tony" Ziva chuckled leaning back in her own chair grinning widely.

"Your late, DiNozzo" Gibbs told DiNozzo, walking into the squad room with a coffee in hand.

" I know boss. Long night… but you don't want to hear about that. I saw the news report, what did I miss?"

"The women were kidnapped by the same person and it was just a Metro case until they found this…" McGee said bringing up pictures of the women on the plasma.

"Newman, Cox, Ireland, Sampson. NCIS" Ziva told him.

"Who figured that one out?"

"Just a junior officer."

"Coincidence?" Tony asked

"Metro thought so, until… they got sent this" McGee replied, bringing up another photo, this time of a note on the plasma. "No return address, No postage, which suggests someone who has connections at the Postal office and the note was partly written in blood. Now there's no signature but finger print analysis suggests Andrew Parker, 38 year old, not married, no family or kids. Former marine, dishonourable in '05 for the sexual assault and rape of a female co-worker. He held quite the grudge against NCIS for a long time, among other things he sent a couple of death threats to the case agent's. So he has motive, he's our prime suspect."

"And we think that this guy has kidnapped 4 young women?" Tony asked

"Yep. Metro also did most of the legwork on the first three women but there wasn't anything that really stood out, but we already have a head start in the case"

"Get to work" Gibbs called.

McGee and Ziva made their way to Abby's lab to see if she had anything else on the note. They knew if she did have anything she would have called but doing this they felt like they were actually doing something productive rather than sitting at a desk chasing worthless trails of endless paperwork. One of the problems about the case was that there was no ransom, no demands and no leads on the safety of any of the women, Oswald Parker, if the kidnapper was indeed him, hadn't asked for anything, apart for eternal damnation for all of NCIS, so they had almost nothing to go on. When they finally got to the lab, Abby was her cheerful self.

"Before you ask I don't have anything, well nothing good, well nothing great. But Gibbs isn't going to like it" Abby smiled, stoping to take a breath. "Okay, there isn't anything particularly interesting about the note, it's a random mixture of blood and red biro and the words are really hinky, there so grammatically incorrect that I would expect this standard from a third grader." Abby said walking over to her computer and bringing up basic profiles of the four women on the plasma screen "And I'm absolutely sure that the blood is from all four girls."

"Even the one kidnapped last night?"

Yeah, but that's not the most important thing, I was running a black light over it and found this, what do you think? Abby asked the pair, tilting her head to look at them.

Ziva read the fluorescent words slowly, " 'They will die, NCIS will fall, I will win' Win what? What does it mean?" she asked

"Gibbs needs to see this" McGee said, quickly grabbing a printout off the printer and walking out soon followed out by Ziva

"I've emailed it to you!" Abby called after them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks everyone for reading, especially evergreeneTX, Dixie Dewdrop and Long Live BRUCAS for reviewing, it means allot to me. So here's the next chapter.**

"On it Boss" Tony said as McGee and Ziva re-entered the squad room. He picked up his desk phone and dialled "Ducky? Ok Palmer, no. Can you get Ducky to come up please?" He said into the handset.

"Ducky? Autopsy?" Ziva suggested

McGee answered the question "no… Psychological Profile"

"Well done McGenius!"Tony announced sarcastically, putting the phone back into its cradle, "full marks!"

"Did you wake up in the wrong bed Tony?" Ziva asked

Tony sighed dramatically "We've been over this before Ziva, wrong side of the bed and no, I didn't. I slept on my couch last night because someone's dog spent the whole night barking and my window still won't close properly!"

There was a short silence in the squad room apart from the rhythmic taping of typing on keyboards. Gibbs however didn't touch his keyboard; he was sipping his coffee and watching his team work. The relative silence was broken when the elevator dinged and Ducky walked out wearing his signature braces and bow tie.

"I assume that there was a reason to my summoning and this isn't purely a social call"

"Yeah Duck, I need a quick Psychological Profile" Gibbs asked standing up and meeting his friend in the middle of the room.

"I have been thinking and I have something I would like to run past you Ducky" Ziva said standing up and joining them. "McGee, if you could bring up both of the notes?" she asked as both pictures appeared up on the screen. "The one on the left is the original note that Metro received and the one on the right is the writing Abby found with a black light. She mentioned to grammar and I agree that it is poor, but it is the wording I find interesting. He makes no reference to correcting what he has done and I don't think this man wants redemption for what he has done, he wants the credit and the revenge."

"This being the first time I have lain my eyes on this certain piece on paper my initial thoughts are very similar. The writing is neatly printed so he is most likely neat and tidy. Anthony informed me tat he has a family history of mental illness and I would suggest that this poor man has also developed some type of mental illness maybe schizophrenia or a paranoid personality disorder, both of these would account for such radical behaviour and the disorganisation and poor grammar of the note. Of course this is all purely speculation" Ducky finished "I must say that this distinctly reminds me of a case I came across only a few years ago where…" Ducky stopped see the look on Gibbs face. "Timothy, if you wouldn't mind printing a copy off for me, I'll see what else I can come up with"

"We need to find out if Andrew Parker is the type of man to make empty threats" Gibbs said to Ducky as he left "What have you got DiNozzo?"

"I got the stuff that Metro looked into and expanded on that. There isn't much to link the four women apart from gender, approximate age, their backgrounds and the thing with the surnames. They're all from well off backgrounds and as far as I can tell that's just to bring attention to the disappearances. After all people disappear every day.

Lillian Cox was the first to be taken. She's a 18 year old, she disappeared from her mother's home around 3am Sunday morning. Diligent student, lots of achievements but no links to the other three as far as I can tell. She's the Daughter of Sandra Cox, head layer at Carter and Snowden.

Monday morning roughly 2am, Anna Newman and Brianna Ireland, ages 20 and 21 both disappear from their houses, that happen to be two houses apart, no sign of a struggle. Now these two were inseparable, Neighbours, classmates, teammates, roommates, companions, childhood friends, these two were joined at the hip. Both daughters of ex-senators, met at kindergarten and have been friends ever since.

The last one to disappear, last night, was Amelia Sampson, 16, daughter of Ian Sampson, current CEO of budget airline Easy Flight, disappeared from her parents' house around 4 am and again, no sign of a struggle. No links to the others apart from the fact her family were renting a house on the same street as Anna and Brianna for 3 months. Amelia moved here from Australia three and a half years ago with her parents after her brother was killed in a car crash."

"That it?" Gibbs asked

"Andrew owns a small convenience shop three blocks away from the street that Anna and Brianna live on."

"Gear up" Gibbs called, swiftly walking towards the elevator.

Andrew Parker's shop was small, slightly run down convenience store that had definitely seen better days. It sat alone in the middle of a street of new, glossy bakeries, pharmacies and newsagents. The store itself was around 40 years old and seemed forgotten about, A giant crooked crack ran across one of its walls and its pale blue-grey paint was flaking and peeling from years of sun, wind and rain.

Tony look the lead, walking up to the door, the first thing he noticed was the large "CLOSED" sign in the window, and a smaller hand written sign bellow it explaining that the store would be closed for 2 months, for renovations. Whilst Tony completely agreed with the need for a restoration, he doubted that the store would open again. Ziva caught up to him and quickly tested the door handle, but as they both assumed, it was locked. Gibbs gave the pair of them a quick nod and signalled for McGee to go around the back. Tony knocked loudly on the door, "Federal Agents! Open up"

Ziva rolled her eyes, "He's not in there…"

"It's protocol Ziva" Tony replied, pausing for a couple of seconds and then kicking the door. The door buckled and groaned but refused to cave in. Ziva pushed him aside and kicked the door, this time it swung open. Ziva smiled, un-holstered her gun, and entered, Tony behind her and Gibbs behind him. They cleared the store, Tony opened the door to the cashier and Ziva made sure that the room behind it was clear as well, and then letting Tim in through the back door.

"You Two" Gibbs said, pointing to McGee and Tony, "Stay behind, bag and tag. Ziva, your with me" He strode back out through the demolished door, Ziva gave the other two a quick smile before following him.

"Right" Tony sighed "Get to work Probie"


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to Long Live BRUCAS and Alyks. Also, just a heads up, I'm going on holidays next week and I won't be updating while I'm away, no internet you see. I will try and get as much up as I can before then but I do still have assignments to do so... Anyway, thanks for reading **

Gibbs walked into the squad room and slammed his coffee down on his desk, some of the contents of the cup spilling out of lid and dribbling down the side. He grunted in frustration, picking up a tissue from McGee's desk and wiping coffee away. They had been on the case a whole day and had made no progress, Parker's shop and house refused to shed light on anything related to the case and the only true evidence they had, the note, was not much to build a case on.

Second on Gibb's mind was the Metro Police, who he had no faith in as a rule. They had had the investigation for three days and came up empty before handing it over to NCIS, and then they had gone and got the media involved. Yes, Gibbs understood that the power of the media could be an indispensible resource in an investigation, but there was nothing that got on his nerves more than a greasy reporter sticking a camera in his face, and he feared that he would eventually have to deal with that in this investigation, as there was nothing like a high profile string of kidnappings to spice up the evening news. In his eyes, Metro Police had done nothing constructive, and had done nothing to help the four women who had been taken, and so it was up to his team to make amends.

Gibbs took a big sip of his coffee, wacked his computer a couple of time and got straight to work.

As Ziva sat at her desk working, she risked a look over to her left at Gibbs. She could already tell that he was dedicated to this case, even more than usual. It was obvious, he was fiercely drinking his fourth coffee for the day and it wasn't even one o'clock yet. The man practically ran on caffeine, and it was always a good measure of his dedication to count the empty cups of coffee in his trash, as weird as it sounded.

It was at this moment that McGee walked back into the squad room. He dumped his pack down heavily at his desk before sinking into his chair.

"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs barked, looking up from his desk for the first time in a while.

"Um..." McGee stood back up and looked around; scrunching his eyebrows in confusion "He was right there behind me... I don't know boss."

Ziva stood up and grabbed the remote off DiNozzo's desk, pointing it at the screen and brought up some documents. Gibbs and McGee also stood up from their desks to join her. "I went over Parker's entire internet, phone records, and tracked the last few months of movement through his mobile but there's nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to link him to any of our victims. It has been turned off for 4 days. There is also nothing in the women's history to link them to Parker; everything points to them as random victims."

Gibbs nodded and took a sip of his coffee. He opened his mouth to speak when the phone on his desk rung. Gibbs scowled and went over to pick it up.

Ziva rushed back over to her desk, opened her draw and swiftly grabbed her gun and badge, McGee did the same. She had got as far as swinging her pack onto her shoulder when Gibbs hung up the phone.

"Where the hell is DiNozzo?"

"Right here boss" Tony said, half running, half walking into the squad room. "Who'd they find?"

"Anna Newman, Greenbelt Park" Gibbs said, taking one final sip of coffee as he walked out of the room, throwing the cup backwards into Ziva's bin. "Come on"

When they got to the park, it was easy to find the body of Anna Newman. The place was already crawling with Metro police, who had already set up an exclusion zone, trying to keep out the Media, who were also already swarming. Gibbs led the team through the media scrum, pushing everyone out of his way. He darted under the police tape, leaving McGee to hold it up for DiNozzo and Ziva. Once through, it was easy to find the young women. Anna Newman's body had been wrapped in a thin cloth, her arms folded across her chest and then placed on top of a picnic table as if it were a funeral pier. She looked as if she was merely sleeping; accept for the large, ornamental knife that stuck out of her chest just below her rib cage.

Like a well oiled machine, the team went straight to work without needing any instruction. Ziva and McGee took photos for evidence while DiNozzo took the statements of the dog walkers that had found the body. After 5 or so minutes, Ducky and Palmer turned up, arguing about promptness and driving as usual.

"It's not my fault that we're always late Doctor, you're the navigator, and it's not my job to know where we're going." Palmer argued

"I'm sorry Jethro, we are trying to work on our punctuality" Ducky addressed Gibbs, looking quickly at Palmer "Ahh, I see we have another young life cut short before her time. Well, my initial coclusion is that she died by manual strangulation, most likely with a thin belt or cord, judging by the size of the bruise."

"TOD Duck?" Gibbs asked

"Time of death is around... 8 hours ago" Ducky said, standing up "Well, I think I'm done here Mr

Palmer, fetch the gurney please"

But as Anna Newman's body was lifted up, Ziva spotted a small piece of paper fall out of the back of her shirt. Ziva picked it up of the ground, unfolded it and read it. She was about to read it out to the rest of the team when she remembered the media presence, instead, she folded it back up and handed it to Gibbs. He just nodded and turned away, starting to walk back to the NCIS van. The rest of the team followed after him, their job done, but Ziva stayed put for a minute, just staring into the trees. She broke her gaze away and followed them back.

Amelia felt a violent shiver ripple through her body, the man's footsteps echoed ominously around the room as he walked. When he finally got to her, he threw down a blanket. Amelia wanted to thank him but she was to cold so instead she nodded her head. It made her cough, and the man reacted violently.

"What are you doing? NO! You won't escape! You won't!" His gruff voice yelled at her and he pushed her back into the wall. Amelia scrunched her eyes shut in fear. "You won't escape!" He yelled again, throwing the rest of the blankets in the general direction of the others before storming out, slamming the large metal door behind him.

"What a nutcase..." Lily said from the other side of the room, and Amelia smiled and coughed some more and huddled close into the blanket.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to whynotlive and Long Live BRUCAS for reviewing it is greatly appreciated, to everyone else reading thanks, enjoy this chapter, it will be the second last before I leave so I will try to leave next chapter on a cliff-hanger. Reviews are appreciated Thanks again. **

"Abby? Abs!" Gibbs yelled over the loud music Abby was dancing to. She turned around at the sound of his voice and quickly turned off the music.

"Gibbs!" she said as her face lit up.

"What you got Abs?" Gibbs asked as he put down a giant cup of cafpow, sliding it just out of reach of Abby.

"Nothing Gibbs!" she cried "And that's the problem, it's like... All the forensic work is done for me, you know. I don't have the exiting job of running DNA or fingerprints or... sorry" Abby took a deep breath. "Right, so um, no fingerprints or stray hairs at the crime scene. The knife, though ornamental is common, there was a single strand of brown synthetic fibre, I'm still running it and there was traces of dirt in her hair, highly acidic and traces of fertiliser. See Gibbs! I have nothing" Abby frowned, Gibbs lead over and whispered in her ear.

"Go home, it's late" he told her and left the lab, leaving behind the CafPow! Abby smiled and took a sip.

In a dark and disused alleyway, between two large buildings in downtown Washington, was a restaurant dumpster which was only used by the young, teenage kitchen hand called Craig, whose job it was to empty the bins at midnight every night before locking up the restaurant. On This particular Friday night, the restaurant had been unusually busy, and so the Craig was emptying all the bins early. Putting his IPod earphones in, Craig picked up two large bags of trash; he kicked the door open and kept it there with his foot as he hobbled past in a well-practiced yet still awkward manoeuvre. Lifting up the bags a little bit higher, Craig descended down the stairs from the backdoor of the restaurant into the alleyway, once there with a heave, he threw both bags up and into the dumpster. He took a deep breath and looked up at the stars, and as he turned back towards the restaurant, something rolled of the pile on top of the dumpster and hit him, and once he had collected himself he saw what it was and he let out a yelp, pulling the earphones out of his ears and pushing himself back towards the door. Once back inside, he pulled out his mobile phone and quickly dialled 911.

"I've… seen… I've found a body, a body, there's a body, in a dumpster" He said breathing heavily and still struggling to catch his breath "I've found a body"

"Please calm down sir, you've found a body, I understand, where is your current location?" The operator asked

"No, you don't understand" Craig continued "It's Brianna Ireland, the body, it's that girl of the TV. She's dead, she's in the dumpster!"

"Yes sir, okay, but where are you?"

"Um... Giordano Italian, Restaurant." He said still breathing heavily.

"Thank you, someone will be there soon" The operator finished.

Craig nodded, putting his ear phones back in and settled down, ready to wait for the police to arrive.

Tony sat at his desk, digging into a cheeseburger. Ziva was staring at him disapprovingly.

"What?" Tony asked, taking another ravenous bite into the burger "It's what, 10pm and I haven't eaten since breakfast, why are we even still here?" He continued still with his mouth half full. "I deserve something to eat"

"Yes, but do you have to eat it so… So…" Ziva started. Before she could finish, Gibbs walked around the corner and snatched the burger away, throwing it in the bin.

"As soon as we've caught the kidnapper, DiNozzo" Gibbs said, placing his fresh cup of coffee down on his desk. Ziva smiled widely.

"But!..." Tony protested

"No buts' DiNozzo" Gibbs said as he continued walking out the other side of the squad room, leaving his cup of coffee on his desk. Tony pointed in the direction that Gibbs had left and shook his head, looking down sadly at his cheeseburger in the bin.

"If you even think about getting that back out." Ziva said, shivering in disgust.

"Nope, it's been longer than three seconds..."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh my god Ziva" Tony exclaimed "call yourself an 'American' and you don't even know about the three second rule!" he picked up her pen and dropped it on the floor "You see, one, two" and he picked it back up. "If that was food, it would be safe to eat, but" he dropped it on the floor again "One, two, three, four, that wouldn't be safe to eat, it's called the three second rule Ziva, assimilate already, it's been what, six years." Ziva nodded uncertainly.

"Hey, where's Gibbs?" McGee asked, walking into the squad room.

"No clue Probie, he just walked in, threw away my burger and walked off; and now all this talk about burgers and food is making me more hungry" Tony inhaled deeply, then sniffed a few times, slowly inching closer and closer to McGee "Are you hiding anything under that over expensive, out of fashioned jacket of yours Probie. God! I'm hungry."

"Shut it DiNozzo" Gibbs said walking back in "What have we got?" There was an awkward silence when the McGee, Tony and Ziva looked at. Finally Ziva stood up.

"I had a talk to Ducky about the note I found._ 'By the end, everyone will see the true NCIS, The life wreckers, the future destroyers, and so NCIS will fall, at my hand, and I will win'_ Both notes we have received are careful, and almost obsessive. Ducky was." Ziva was cut off by the shrill of Gibbs' phone. He turned around and picked it up, he stood as still as a statue as the person on the other side of the line spoke, but the whole team still saw the reaction on his face, they knew immediately what the phone call was about and they started packing their bags, collecting their guns and badges. Gibbs slammed down the phone, picked up his coffee, downing the last off it and threw it in the bin.

"Brianna Ireland, Giordano Italian Restaurant Downtown, let's go" Gibbs said mechanically, throwing the car keys to Ziva, she grinned widely "You're driving"

"Oh no, it's way too late for this" DiNozzo groaned.

"Hey Tony, that was number nine" McGee whispered.

"Nine cups of coffee today, man we're screwed"

"Since lunch"

"Crap"


	5. Chapter 5

**As usual, thanks to Long Live Brucas, pirate princess and Alyks for reviewing, it was quite interesting to learn just how much coffee some people drink. This will be my last update before I go away so it will be a week before I update again. Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated as always **

"Ah, I wondered when I would be seeing you Jethro" Ducky greeted as Gibbs and Tony walked into Autopsy. "I'm afraid however, that you will be disappointed in my findings."

"What you got Duck?"

"Both women were strangled by a cord or cable. Both were also left with the same ornamental knife lodged underneath their ribcages and both were placed on top of something, acting like a funeral pier, both had their arms crossed in the "at peace" position and more so, both bodies had high levels of sedatives in them. Both deaths are practically identical."

"What about the note we found?" Tony asked

"Ah, well, very similar in style and wording to the last two, I would make no further assumptions than those I told to Ms David."

"' _Time is running out for NCIS, They will die, you will fall and I will win'_ Well he doesn't exactly sound stable Ducky." Tony commented, reading of the note they had found late last night in the dumpster Brianna Ireland's body had been found in.

"Quite, our friend Mr Parker, as I have already said is suffering from a severe mental illness, and he is in no way a stable man. He would be erratic with his actions, turning from passive to violent with the smallest of triggers. A very dangerous man."

"We know Duck." Gibbs replied, starting to walk out.

"Ah, before you leave Jethro, Mr Palmer and I have been talking about Mr Parker's state of mind, and the possibility of him developing a routine. You see our first victim, was killed around midnight, but found in the morning, our latest victim's time of death was 6 pm yesterday and was, well we can only assume that Mr Parker wanted her found at midnight, after all he is putting a lot of effort into his actions. Therefore, we are predicting that the next victim will be murdered midday today, and be placed to be found around 6pm. So you have until then to find them."

Gibbs turned back around and started walking out, Tony thanked Ducky and followed, half running to catch the elevator before the doors closed.

Amelia sat against the all too familiar stone wall. It seemed like ages since Brianna had disappeared but it had probably only been a few hours, and she had likely met the same fate as her friend Anna, who the man had already admitted to murdering in cold blood. Amelia had almost come to terms with the fact that she and Lily were going to die, here, and very soon.

"God I'm hungry" Lily said from the other side of the room "You?"

"Yeah, starving" Amelia replied. There was a minute of silence before Lily spoke again.

"Well seeing as we are going to die here, we may as well get to know each other right. My name's Lillian Cox. Um, I have a younger brother and sister, Kieran and Amber, and I just turned 18. You?"

Amelia laughed "Wow, déjà vu, I could have sworn I've heard those names before. Ah, Amelia Sampson, I'm 16, I lived in Australia all my life until two years ago, my, my brother Phillip was, killed in a car crash and my family decided to move here, where all my family is on my mother's side"

"I'm sorry about you brother" Lily paused "I went to Australia once, for my…" Lily stopped speaking as footsteps echoed outside. They stopped and started again, fading away.

"You said you came to Australia once, with your family?" Amelia asked

"Yeah, when I was about nine, we went down to celebrate Christmas with our grandparents. All I can really remember is a giant gingerbread house and some beaches."

"hmmm, Your grandparents, they remarried right."

"Yes… Why?"

"I told you that your family's names sounded familiar, Lillian, Kieran and Amber. Your grandparents are Shirley and Henry, Your grandmother remarried when her husband died, just as my grandfather remarried when his wife died, our parents are from their first marriage's. I am pretty sure that, were not related but, Put it this way, I was at that party with your grandparents, because there mine as well, I was there and I remember the Gingerbread house and the beaches."

"Your brother, Phillip, he was older than you and had red hair yeah?" Lilly asked

"Yeah, he did" Amelia chuckled

"Wow, what a coincidence. So were relatively relatives?"

"Yeah, something like that"

"Maybe… this will cause our family's to get back together, a reunion" Lilly proposed.

There was another pause when the room fell back into silence. "Were going to die here, aren't we?"

"I honestly don't know"

Ziva pulled up to Brianna Ireland's family's house, she took a deep breath to settle herself and quickly got out of the car into the cold and rain. She loved her job, but she hated this part. Walking in and telling a family that a beloved member was dead, and they were never coming back, that was cruel. Then again if someone came and told her that her father was dead... Well she didn't know what she would do.

She lifted her hand up to the door, paused, and then gave it a 4 solid knocks, stepping back. Footsteps slowly approached from inside until the solid wooden door opened with a creak. A Women's head peered through the gap.

"Good afternoon Mrs Ireland, my name's Officer Ziva David. May I come in?" Ziva asked, quickly flicking her badge.

"This is about Brianna, isn't it?" Mrs Ireland asked as she opened the door further and she let Ziva in. "What happened to her? What happened?"

As she was led down the hall, the women's husband and son joined them, Ziva directed them to the lounge. "I am very sorry to inform you that…" By this time, Mrs Ireland had turned on the waterworks and tears were starting to form for the other two as well. They knew. "We found your daughter's body this morning." The entire family were hugging now, the mother clung to her son, holding him tight, both of them crying, and the father had his head in his hands with tears steadily dripping down.

"Where did you find her?" The mother asked still weeping.

"She was found in a downtown alley way" Ziva told them. This news just made Mrs Ireland sob harder. Suddenly, a loud, shrilling mobile phone ringtone broke the atmosphere of the room, making the family pull themselves together, Mrs Ireland directed her son to go and pick it up while she hugged her husband closely.

"Hello, its Tim" The boys voice struggled to say "It's Brianna, she's dead!" He exclaimed into the receiver, this brought about another round of sobbing from the mother. "Yes, yes of course Uncle. Yes. Oh, no. Okay. I'll see you soon Uncle Steven" The boy finished, drying his eyes with the end of his sleeve. "He'll be here soon"

"I am very sorry for your loss." Ziva said, standing up awkwardly. The women also stood up.

"What about Anna, have you…" Her voice faded into another sob.

"Yes, she was found yesterday morning, I'm sorry, is it true she was sleeping over here when..."

"Yes, she was, she had just bought an apartment and it was being fumigated, she had just moved out of home" The mother still shedding tears, excused herself and disappeared into the next room.

"I am very sorry, I should leave." Ziva was lead out by Mr Ireland. The rain had eased slightly and was now just a light sprinkle. Just as she got out through the door and down onto the driveway a white pick-up truck pulled up and another man jumped out. "I'm so sorry Richard" He said, but Ziva could detect no sincere remorse in his voice. Ziva paused as his stark black eyes met hers; there was something about him that didn't feel right. She tore her eyes away and noticed the distinctive light brown coloured carpet in the car, her eyes narrowed further in suspicion as she saw a dark red patch that looked like blood. She lifted her head back up, giving the man a quick nod, she continued walking to her car. She could sense his eyes following her as she walked. With a last slow glace back in his direction, she opened the door to her car and got in.

As Ziva drove away, she couldn't help but think about the man with the pick-up truck. Assumedly the Uncle Steven that the boy was talking to on the phone. There was something about him that Ziva couldn't quite put her finger on. And yes, she knew that her gut had nothing on Gibbs, but going with her instincts, she decided that she had to tell someone her suspicions. So she pulled over, got out her phone and dialled Tony.

Looking up into her rear-view mirror she saw another car roll up slowly behind her, when suddenly, the car exploded, bursting into flames and spreading debris everywhere.

Ziva quickly closed her phone, her hand went straight to her gun and the other opened the door slowly. Cautiously, she crept out. She stopped and brought her gun up, walking slowly forward towards the smouldering wreckage of the car.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Though she sincerely doubted that anyone could survive such a blast, she felt obliged to ask. Just as she got to the burnt out car which was still on fire and smouldering, Ziva heard something behind her, whipping herself back around, she was quick enough to get a glimpse of a man in a black hoodie before he brought down the but of his hand gun on the side of her head, knocking her down before she had a chance to do anything. Her vision blurred and she blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

**So I'm back from my trip and it's the last day of holidays so unfortunately updates will slow. Thanks to everyone reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

"Because I am the senior field agent, Probie" Tony told McGee for the millionth time, ending their current quarrel as so many others had also been ended.

"I'm not a probational agent anymore Tony" McGee retorted "So, you heard from Ziva?"

Tony checked his phone, "No, but it's fine, she was going by the Irelands to break the news before she came in, frankly I don't envy her"

McGee and Tony walked through the doors to an old bar in downtown Washington where they were hoping to Find Andrew Parker's former CO. The Bar was warm and cosy, it had a sort of atmosphere to it. "Jack O'Donnell?" McGee asked a man sitting at a bench. He simply shook his head and pointed behind him. They walked over to the man sitting down.

"Are you Jack O'Donnell?" Tony asked, the man turned around and narrowed his eyes.

"Who wants to know?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"NCIS"

"Ah" he said, turning around fully to see them, giving them his full attention. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you came looking for me"

"I'm sorry?" McGee asked.

"I've been watching the news, I know what's going on. So, who do you think did it?"

"Did what"

"Kidnapped the four girls? It was only a matter of time before you came asking questions of me after all"

"Was it?" McGee asked getting increasingly confused.

"Of course! It's as clear as day to me, Anna New man, great kid, I heard you found her body, anyway, she was the niece of Leah Williams, so I figure whatever happening now must have something to do with what happened 6 years ago. So who's your main suspect? Is it Parker?"

"Leah Williams, she's the co-worker that Parker raped? She's related to Anna Newman?" Tony asked.

"Yeah! Close as the pages in a book those two"

"How did we miss that Probie?"

"Metro did most of the leg work for the case, might have just slipped under the rug." McGee answered.

Tony turned his attention back to Jack. "Is there anything you could tell us about Andrew Parker?"

"Ah, I knew it. He was a good kid, he lost both his parents young, grew up alone, It was tough from what I hear. He could be violent at times but that's about it. He was quiet, kept to himself allot."

"anything else?" Tony continued hopefully.

"Not really, I was just his CO, I wasn't his mate."

"Anything you can tell us, anything at all."

"Well... there was this one guy, Steven Ireland, He was always fighting with Parker. Ireland even testified against him in the trail. They hated each other's guts and everyone knew it, and they even looked scaringly similar, I think that's what most of their fights were about. Ireland was discharged about 6 months after Parker for personality issues, but if you ask me, they were more than issues"

"Ireland?" McGee asked

"Yeah, why? Oh... I see, Brianna Ireland. "

"Thank you very much for your help Jack, McGee, we need to get back"

As they walked out the door and back towards the car, McGee stepped in front of Tony, turning around to face him "You don't think..."

"Yes, I do McGee; we've missed something, something big"

Gibbs sat at his desk, staring at the TV across from him, he watched as the news story about the kidnappings came on.

"And now we have an update on the high profile kidnappings seen just days ago. ZNN can now confirm that two of the young women have been found dead, the latest, Brianna Ireland, was found by NCIS agents late last night. There is still no word however on wether NCIS have a suspect, and hope is fading fast for the two women still missing. NCIS has refused to comment on the case, but ask if you have any information at all, to please ring the hotline below. Now on to the weather and there..." Gibbs lost interest and went back to his work. He quickly looked at his watch, and then over to Ziva's desk. She should have been in 10 minutes ago, and it was not like her to be late. But his famous gut told him not to worry, so he didn't.

Soon after, McGee and DiNozzo came hurrying in, quickly dumping their bags and grabbing the remote for the screen, turning it on and bringing up a document. Gibbs stood up to join them.

"Ok Boss, Jack O'Donnell had two big things for us. Firstly, Anna Newman is Leah Williams's niece, apparently they were very close and secondly, Andrew Parker frequently got into fights with another former co-worker, Steven Ireland."

"How did you miss that?" Gibbs demanded.

"Well Metro did most of the leg work for the case, they could have missed it."

Gibbs nodded slowly "What do you think?"

"The kidnappings are targeted. I would bet you there all related in some way, Anna to Leah Williams, Brianna to Steven Ireland, We just have to find the connection to the other two. Whatever Parkers trying to do he is making the people from his past pay. I'd bet that Amelia and Lillian will have a connection there somewhere."

"Call Ziva, tell her to turn around.."

"And see what she can find out about Brianna's uncle, got it boss." DiNozzo finished his sentence and went straight to his phone

"McGee, you"

"Go over everything again, even Metros stuff, look for something we have missed."

"She isn't picking up, cell or home"

"DiNozzo, you go" Gibbs said, Tony picking up his bag and walking out again. Gibbs went back to his chair, but didn't sit back down, instead, he walked out of the squad room to get some coffee, he was going to need it.

Amelia stared at the new silhouette in the room. She had no idea who it was, but she was about to find out as the new person groaned and sat up.

"Who are you?" Amelia asked cautiously "Who's there"

"My name is Ziva David, I am a NCIS agent" She said rubbing her head. "Who are you?"

"Amelia Sampson"

"Are you okay?" The women named Ziva asked.

"Me? yeah, fine. It's not like were trapped and are going to be killed anytime soon" Amelia replied sarcastically.

"Is there another girl?" Ziva asked nervously, knowing the implications if there wasn't.

"Yeah, Lily!" Amelia yelled "Wake up, we have a visitor."

"Who are you?" Lilly asked, sitting up.

"My name is Ziva David, I am a NCIS agent"

"And let me guess, you're not here to get us out."

Ziva rubbed her head again, "I am handcuffed to something on the wall, are you?"

"Yep" Lilly answered "

The next thing Ziva did was check her boots for her back up weapons but they were gone. "Do either of you have anything I can use as a weapon or lock pick?"

"No sorry" Lilly answered

"We're going to die here aren't we?" Amelia asked calmly

"We're not going to die" Lily replied dismissively "We aren't, right?

"Do not worry about it" Ziva answered.

"But you, NCIS or whatever, you found Brianna and her friend, Anna, Dead. You found their bodies" Amelia asked, still composed

"Yes"

"And that's going to be us?"

"No, my team will get us out of here, alive" Ziva reassured the pair.

"I just want to know whether or not I'm going to die today, is that so unreasonable?"

"No, it is not. But we are all in the same yacht now." Ziva replied, her answer ending the conversation and causing the room to fall back into silence. Ziva sighed, resting her head against the wall. She wished that she had put that phone call through to Tony. But what done was done, and now she hoped that Gibbs would know something was up, and find her and the two remaining women before it was too late.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry! I am soooooo Sorry! So here's an extra long chapter to make up for the wait. Thank you so much to pirate-princess1, Long Live BRUCAS, Alyks for reviewing, they are appreciated as always! We have some safety advice in this chapter, don't text while driving kids, and also, we are drawing near to the climax of the story. Everything may or may not be as it seems.**

"Anything abs" Gibbs announced, walking into Abby's lab. She turned and greeted him with her normal grin.

"I have plenty for you this time Mister Bossman, Gibbs" she quickly corrected herself. " Right so Major Mass. Spec. Has been working hard and this is the blood work from Anna and Brianna, pretty normal apart from this, high levels of Benzodiazepine, psychoactive drug known as a strong sedatives. Next is this little thing that I've been working on. It's a little tiny brown fiber that's been bugging me for ages, I can't find out anything! It's like its refusing to talk to me Gibbs, I mean what does that? It's really rude!"

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to remind Abby to stay on track.

"Right, I think it might be from a rug or carpet, I'm still working on the exact details. Anyway, finally, I got this from the mail department, cause, they gave me my mail and I knew 'cause the blood work was just finished that you were about to walk through that door. It's addressed to you"

Abby handed the letter to Gibbs. In the top corner was a stamp featuring a small robot from a film a while back he seemed to remember was called rodnee or wallee, the paper was crisp, but run of the mill, and ordinary. Carefully prieseing open the envelope, he took out the small piece of paper inside and read it. Closing his eyes, he sighed deeply and lent his head back.

"Abby, you need to run analysis on this note, fingerprints, ink, hand writing, anything okay?" he ordered, walking out of the room quickly. She looked after him concerned before turning her attention back to the note.

"_Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs,_

_I have Ziva David; solve the case quickly if you want to see her again. Do not waste time looking for me, she will be safe, concentrate on bringing justice to however killed my niece"_

"Ziva!" Abby cried surprised, snapping into work mode immediately. She started all her computers into their appropriate jobs and walked out, going to get a Caf POW! To provide her with the energy she was going to need to work as quickly as Gibbs wanted her to.

This time it was Tony who pulled up to Brianna Ireland's family's house, after making his way to the steps from his car, he lifted his hand up to the door, and then gave it a 4 solid knocks, stepping back. Footsteps slowly approached from inside until the solid wooden door opened with a creek. A Women's head peered through the gap.

"Good afternoon, I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. May I come in?" Tony asked, quickly flicking his badge.

The women looked back confused, her mascara running assumedly from crying "What do you want this time?" Mrs Ireland asked "What's happened?"

"I need to ask you some questions about your brother in law, that's all." He smiled pleasantly.

Mrs Ireland opened the door and let him in, leading him down the hall, "You just missed him, he left just after Agent David" By this time, Mr Ireland and Tim had joined them.

"What do you want this time?" The father asked defensively.

"He has some questions about Steven"

"My Brother Steven?"

"Yes, I just need to talk to you about his history in the Navy, we think that might have something to do with your daughters... kidnapping." Mrs Ireland directed him to sit down on the lounge.

"What's wrong?" Mr Ireland asked

"It's come to our attention that your brother had frequent, disagreements with Andrew Parker, one of our main suspects, have you heard anything about him?"

"No, never. Steven doesn't talk about it ever since he was discharged. He didn't take it lightly."

"Anything you could tell me could help"

"I'm sorry; my brother isn't a talkative type. Especially since he lost his third job this year, he's depressed. I mean, he's living here! How sad could he be."

"Steven's living with you?"

"He lost his job, his car, his house; he has to live with us because there's nowhere else for him to go. You and your Navy kicked him out, and reduced him to this."

"Where might I be able to find him?" Tony asked

"He came home as soon as he heard the news, but he had to run off again, he left just after your agent."

"Around what time?"

"9:30 or so." Mr Ireland answered. Tony checked his watch, it is 2:30 now, and Ziva should have been back hours ago. Suddenly, his phone rung, Tony got up and excused himself, going into the next room to take the call.

"DiNozzo"

"Tony, I need you to concentrate"

"what's wrong boss?" Tony was alerted by the tone of Gibbs voice, and the fact he called him Tony.

"We think that Steven Ireland's got Ziva, he's holding her hostage until we solve the case."

"What!" Tony exclaimed surprised, hundreds of thoughts going through his head at once "We have to do something!"

"Tony, find out anything you can find about Steven, but remember we only have three hours to find Parker until he kills again. He's our priority, Ziva will be fine." Gibbs finished, hanging up abruptly as he always did. Tony walked back into the room and sat back down.

"Anything you can tell me, absolutely anything at all"

"What's wrong?" Mrs Ireland asked concerned.

"Bad news about the case, don't worry, anything though, seriously."

"Seriously, there is nothing left to say. My Brother is depressed, he's... unpredictable, I don't know"

Tony strained a smile "Thanks for your help anyway." He left the house soon after and went back to his car, resting his arms on the steering wheel and his head in his hands, he took several deep breaths. His partner, Ziva, had been kidnapped, he had just three hours left to save a women's life, and they had no leads at all, not even a tiny hint of a lead; they had absolutely nothing. Turning the ignition on and starting his car, he began driving off down the road back towards the Navy Yard. Hundreds of thoughts were running through his head, but the first they he wanted to do was call Ziva, and try once more to get through to her. Knowing it was a dangerous idea; he pulled out mobile phone and dialled her, keeping one eye on the road. He wedged his phone between his head and shoulder and returned his hands to the wheel. But Tony's attempt was fruitless as it went straight to voicemail.

Driving along the road, he stopped, and pulled over alongside a burnt-out car, utterly demolished, still smoking a tiny amount. He looked left and right, wondering why no one had seen it before him. Getting his phone back out of his pocket he went to dial 911, but instead, he accidently re-dialled Ziva. Just as he was about to hang up, he heard the shill of Ziva's phone and Tony's blood ran cold.

Tony hurried over to the wreckage, searching for the phone that was ringing somewhere inside. Carefully he reached his arm inside, contorting his arm to fit inside the small and mangled wreckages. With a bit of blind searching with his hand, he found the phone and pulled it out. Much to his relief the phone was nothing but scratched, it hadn't been in the car during the explosion. Getting his own phone he dialled Gibbs.

"Boss.."

"What's wrong DiNozzo?"

"I found a burnt out wreck on the road back from the Irelands house, Ziva's phone was inside, but it's not damaged, and I... don't think it's her car. Its a small car, partial plate, ah, ACUI that's all I can see. Send someone down here boss, this has to have something to do with the case."

"Hurry up and get back DiNozzo, I'll send a team. Is there a body?"

"No" Tony replied, Gibbs hung up abruptly, again. Going back to his car, Tony got back in and drove away back towards the navy yard, still clutching Ziva's phone in his hand

DiNozzo pretty much ran into the squad room, dumping his bag and joining McGee and Gibbs in front of the plasma screen. "What have we got?" he asked, eager for news.

"So I've been going over the Metro data. Leah Williams, Steven Ireland and Andrew Parker all served under Jack O'Donnell for 14 months. Now Andrew Parker and Steven Ireland have been written up twice for fighting and so we can tell that they had a shaky relationship. Now there were the relations between Anna Newman and Leah Williams and Brianna and Steven Ireland, but with all my digging I couldn't find any links between Lillian and Amelia and people connected to the case. There is however a link between the pair of them, but its so complicated I'm not even going to attempt to explain it… and get on with the rest.

Abby's forensic analysis confirms that Steven Ireland is responsible for the note, fingerprint analysis confirms it, there was also one of Ziva's prints in the middle of the paper . I tried tracking Ziva's cell but Tony called in with it first so no luck there."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked, hoping for some conclusive proof of some sort.

"My theory is that Andrew Parker went wacko and decided to take revenge on us and other people who accused him of his crime. Steven Ireland, I don't know, went wacko as well and decided to kidnap Ziva to hold her to a ransom of us solving the case, and finding his nieces killer. We don't have any evidence to prove anything, but that's what I'm betting on. We find Parker, We get Ziva, easy."

Gibbs shook his head, "We need to remember Ziva can look after herself, our priority is and always should be Andrew Parker and his Hostages, we have 2 hours, we need proof, now"

"Gibbs, were no longer just talking about random victims, women we don't know, this is Ziva were talking about, we have to find her." Tony told them "This just got personal" He continued, pulling his gun out of his holster and cocking it.

"Did you really just do that?" McGee asked gobsmacked

"I thought it would be dramatic, spur confidence and lighten the atmosphere, yeah, it didn't work" Tony sighed "But really, we have to find Ziva before she ends up dead like the other two."

"What do we know about Andrew Parker?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing apart from his Navy record, he was an orphan, he showed signs of early mental illness, went off the grid after his discharge, well not off the grid he just kind of went to the out skirts were no one really looks." McGee answered

"And Steven Ireland?"

"Doppelganger to Parker was discharged for "Personality issues". Lost his current jobs, went into depression, living with his brother."

"Doppelganger?" Gibbs asked

"Ganger, like, lookalike boss" Tony replied, Gibbs scrunched up his eyebrows and shook his head.

"I believe my assistance was requested Timothy." Ducky said, walking into the squad room.

"I just need you to tell me what you think about Steven Ireland, I down everything we had on him so Ducky could have a look, it was just an idea"

"And a good one Timothy, as Mr Ireland here shares more than just looks with our friend Mr Parker. Both I believe are mentally unstable, the description I gave before of Mr Parker will be almost identical to that of Mr Ireland. However, I do believe, from what Tony found, Mr Ireland is depressed, he's lost everything. As for where he might be holding Ms David, only you can find that, however, due to his state of mind I would assume somewhere with an emotional connection for him, somewhere where he feels safe. For example his parents home"

"Hang on." McGee interrupted, sifting quickly through a pile of papers on his desk. Here, Steven and Richard Ireland got arrested twice for trespassing on public property at the train depot down town, and when I was talking to some of the others from his unit, they said he kept to himself, but loved trains, they said that his home was the Navy but Trains were his passion." McGee quickly sat down at his desk and typed furiously at his computer "And that train depot is now disused and abandoned."

"The perfect place, quiet, alone, but a reminded of when he was young, a place to him that is secure and safe, good job Timothy." Ducky smiled.

"And good job Doctor Sherlock Duck Mallard" Tony congratulated, rushing to his desk, picking up his pack and starting to walk out again.

"DiNozzo" Gibbs called.

"Boss"

There was a silence, Gibbs checked his watch and looked over to Ziva's empty desk.

"Right" He said, walking out and over taking Tony. "I'm driving"


	8. Chapter 8

**This is the penultimate chapter, and seeing as this chapter is kind of the tying up of everything, its extra long. But there are still some surprises to come. Thanks sooooo much for reading Special thanks to Long Live BRUCAS, Alyks and Jake Crepeau for reviewing. I have just broken my toe, I don't know why I'm telling you but anyway, The last chapter should be up in three or four days. Cheers guys**

The metal door creaked open and the man walked in.

"Food!" Lily exclaimed soon smelling the delicious smell of fresh pizza.

The man closed the door behind him and walked future into the room "I thought that maybe I was being un reasonable, so I bought the three of you some pizza" he said, smiling slightly. He walked over first to Lily. "vegetarian pizza, capsicum, onion, mushrooms and olives." he placed in front of her a small box which she opened all to eagerly, inside was a small, bread-plate sized pizza.

"Thanks" lily said unsure

He walked over to Amelia next and placed an identical box in front of her "meat pizza, bacon, ham, beef, salami and chicken"

"thanks..."

"I cross-referenced your phone records with pizza parlours to make sure you liked what I got you" the man said walking over to Ziva "But you, you never order pizza. So I got you a Hawaiian, ham and pineapple." he said placing the last box down on the ground in front of her, giving her a clear glimpse of his face for the first time

"You, you are not Andrew Parker. Who are you?" Ziva demanded

"I'm going to interrupt you right there, enjoy your pizza" he said leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

"I Know Who You Are!" Ziva called after him. He reopened the door and stuck his head through the gap.

"and what good will that do?" he replied, starting to close the door again.

"Your name is Steven, you were Brianna Irelands uncle."

"Shut up!" Steven yelled, his mood changed dramatically from before, he began stalking forward towards Ziva. "Shut up!"

"what?" Ziva asked confused as Steven was comeing closer and closer, faster and faster.

"You know something don't you?" Steven asked frantically. As he got closer, Ziva stood up awkwardly to face him, hindered by her hand that had been handcuffed to the wall. He got closer and closer and out of instinct and frustration, Ziva pulled back her arm and punched, hitting him square in the jaw. He stumbled back, his progress halted.

"Please don't " Amelia cried

Steven rubbed his jaw, and then jumped straight at Ziva, connecting with her and both flew into the wall behind with an audible crunch. While Ziva tried to untangle herself and her handcuff, Steven punched, hitting Ziva in the nose with a sickening crack and almost immediately, blood began to flow from it. But Ziva was not deterred, she punched an kicked her way back into the fight, fighting with the true skill of a Mossad agent, but she was let down by her hand, still handcuffed to the wall. In a rare lapse in concentration, Steven managed to push her over, falling awkwardly around her handcuff, it twisted her arm and she tried to untangle herself, but before she could, Steven kicked her twice, hard in the chest and the once more for good measure. He smiled, straightened up his shirt and hair an walked out. He paused at the door and turned back around, "Take that as a warning"

"Are you alright?" lily asked

"I am fine" Ziva replied

"Are you sure?"

"I am fine" Ziva replied again, trying to stem the blood flowing from her nose with her sleeve.

Lily sighed and opened her pizza box, picking up a small slice and eating it. "mmm this is good" she said with her mouth still half full.

There was a short silence before it was interrupted by a sharp ripping noise.

"What are you doing?" Amelia asked

"I am making a brace for my hand. Can you fight?"

"Sorry what?" lily asked

"Fight, if the time comes, can you fight?" Ziva asked

"Well yes, I suppose so" Amelia answered.

"Good" Ziva replied, "Now you need to be quiet so I can figure out where we are" she finished, listening hard to any outside noise that penetrated the solid concrete walls.

Suddenly the metal door swung open and Steven hurried in, closing it softly behind himself. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the three in turn "Any noise, any sound and I shoot, understood?"

Ziva's head snapped up, she narrowed her eyes and tried to concentrate future on the faint noises from the outside world. Steven was scared and running, and she hoped that it was her team that had frightened him so much. Faint footsteps slowly got louder and louder until they stopped; the door creaked and opened slowly. Ziva knew that Steven Ireland was waiting in the shadows to ambush whoever was there but she dared not speak.

The first thing Ziva could see entering through the door was a gun and a torch, that quickly swept the room. Next through the door were arms, followed by a body. Ziva squinted to try and see who it was through the darkness and relief washed over her. She saw the silhouette of Steven move, and knowing that there was nothing she could do, she watched him bring down his gun on the back of Tony's head. He collapsed onto the floor, and Steven rolled him with his foot into the centre of the room. "Not a sound" Steven warned, exiting the room and closing the door quietly behind him.

"Tony" Ziva hissed quietly "Tony?" she sighed and rests shed head back against the wall, Tony was out cold on the floor and Steven had gone to hunt down Gibbs and McGee. "Tony" she hissed again for the sake of it.

This time, much to her surprise, he stirred. Groaning loudly Tony half picked himself of the floor, stumbled forward and collapsed again. He crawled forward before hauling himself up to sit against the wall between Ziva and Amelia.

"My head" he said, groaning some more.

"Tony!"

"Ziva, is that you?" he asked, one hand holding his head and squinting into the darkness. " Wow, your face is screwed up"

"It is nothing, Tony are you okay?"

"Yeah" he replied strained "I'll be fine just, give me a minute" he continued rubbing his head. He looked to his right "You must be Amelia, don't worry, we're going to get you out of here"

"You're here to get us out?" Amelia asked sceptically.

"Yeah" Tony replied, groaning and resting his head back against the wall. "This really hurts"

"Tony, with a hit like that you should be on the floor unconscious " Ziva told him

"Really?" Tony replied, patting the back off his head. "Maybe all those Gibbs slaps have built up my resistance to being hit in the head" he proposed

"I'm really glad you two are catching up and I would let you finished but I am tired and I would really like to get out of here" Lily said

"I think I might just have a lie down" Tony whispered, lying down.

"Tony, where's your phone? I need your phone and your gun" Ziva asked. Tony searched his pockets and grew her his phone, but he didn't have his gun.

"There is no reception. Where are we?"

"The basement of an old, disused train depot" Tory replied, sitting up and shakily getting to his feet.

"Tony..." Ziva complained

Tony stumbled forward and fell to his knees, searching blindly in the darkness with his hand. Something rattled and he picked it up and slid it over to Ziva. Hauling himself back up to his feet, Tony retired back to the wall. He sat back down and held his head with his hands. "So what happened to your face Zee?" he asked

"She got into a fight with the, guy" lily answered.

"So why isn't he lying bleeding on the floor"

"There was a, complication" Ziva replied

"A complication"

Amelia sighed and opened her own pizza box as Lily was already into her third piece. "Would you like a piece?" she asked Tony.

He accepted gratefully and started eating. "so what..." Tony started but Ziva held her hand up and cut him off, he soon understood why as footsteps approached.

"Tony?" McGee's voice called from outside.

"In here" Tony called back.

The metal for opened and through it came a gun and torch, just like before. McGee shone he light around the room, the light falling first on Lily, then Amelia, Tony and finally Ziva.

"Boss!" McGee called, his torch still on Ziva "I found them boss" McGee came further into he room, stopping where Steven Ireland had stood just minutes before. "Ziva are you alright?"

"I am fine"

Next through the door was Gibbs, who also shone his torch around the room. "Ziva? DiNozzo?"

"I am fine"

"I'm fine Boss" Tony replied, still rubbing his head.

"Amelia? Lillian? You okay?"

"Were good" Lily answered

"Fine, were fine" Amelia replied

Lily yawned widely, "It must be getting late"

"In fact it's only 5:30" Steven Ireland announced walking into the room, gun holstered, Gibbs and McGee's guns however were up and at the ready, pointed straight at the man as he entered. "NCIS, just the people I didn't want to see" He finished, stopping in the centre of the room. He turned around on the spot and smiled "You see what I just did? You can't shoot me without risking hitting Ziva, Tony or Little Amelia, and well, Lillian shouldn't be a problem much longer" He gloated, pointing to where Lily sat. Everyone looked around just in time to see her slump and collapse onto the floor.

"What have you done to her?" Amelia demanded

Steven Ireland only smiled, returning his attention to Gibbs.

"Where's Andrew Parker?" Gibbs demanded

"Mr Parker is... otherwise engaged "

"What do you mean?" McGee asked

"Let's just say you won't be seeing him anytime soon." Steven answered, still smiling gleefully.

""Where is he? Was this all you?" McGee demanded.

Steven didn't reply, still smiling. Amelia however was concentrating on Ziva, squinting through the still relative darkness, as the only light was provided by the gap in the door and NCIS's torches, Amelia could see that Ziva was struggling, she was struggling with holding the gun straight with her injured hand. But Amelia knew that even if Ziva could hold the gun steady enough to aim and shoot, she didn't have a clear shot. Shooting this Steven guy would mean she would risk shooting her friend. Amelia knew that something had to be done to get his attention, to get him to move so Ziva could shoot. Amelia had to do something to get him to move, but without alerting him to the fact that Ziva had a gun. Taking a deep breath to settle herself, Amelia made a decision.

"What, have you done, to Lily?' Amelia asked, but Stevens's attention remained unshiffted. "What did you do to Lily you Bastard?" She spat.

"What did you call me?" his attention suddenly well and truly to Amelia.

"What did you say?"

"Bastard. You kidnapped us for a revenge that we had nothing to do with and then you kill us off one by one. You're a bastard, now what, have, you, done to lily!"Amelia demanded, her heart skipped a beat Steven stalked toward her aggressively. Tony, who sat a little way away to her right, attempted to get up and stop him but fell back down, letting out a groan.

Steven stopped in front of her, roughly grabbed her hair and pulled her up buy it. She let out a squeal.

Steven Ireland breathed heavily and angrily as he tried to decide what to say. "You, you see what I have to deal with!" he shouted back at Gibbs and McGee, their guns still up and ready. "They don't get it, you, don't get it!" he pulled Amelia up further.

"I was dishonourably discharged for 'personality issues' I lost my whole life because if you! And all because of this!" he said, pointing to his head with his free hand "You made me this! I've lost everything! And now I'm this!" Steven continued, getting more and more aggravated, "and if, if you, NCIS were just a person" he smiled "if NCIS was a person I would..." he stopped talking and used his free hand to punch her in the stomach, dropping her back to the floor. She doubled over in pain

"You bastard!" she spat

"No" McGee called

Steven pulled her back up by her hair and punched her again and again. All the while, McGee, Gibbs and Ziva had their guns pointed at him, ready, but they couldn't shoot. Steven dropped her to he ground and kicked her like he had done to Ziva. Leaving Amelia on the ground, he walked back into the centre of the room, keeping himself between NCIS and Amelia at all times. He walked al the way up to the end of Gibbs's gun, starring into his eyes "you see what you did to me!" he yelled pointing to his head again "see what you've done to me?"

Amelia groaned, lifting her head off the ground enough to look first at Steven and then at Ziva. Her distraction had worked, Steven was in a different place to before, a place where Ziva had a clear shot. Holding up the gun, she squeezed the trigger and Steven Ireland fell onto the ground.

Suddenly everything was happening at once, Gibbs pulled Stevens arms roughly back, cuffing them together, Tony shuffled his way over to Amelia to check if she was okay, McGee took Ziva's knives and the key for the handcuffs off Steven, giving Ziva her knifes to pick the locks on her handcuffs and then going over to unlock Amelia and Lillian's handcuffs.

Gibbs left Steven to McGee who picked him up off the ground and pushed him out the door while Gibbs went over to Lillian's unconscious body.

"You sure you can manage her boss?" DiNozzo asked a Ziva helped him up with her one good hand.

Without answering, Gibbs lent down and picked her up, cradling her in his arms, and as if showing off, he balanced her between one arm and his body while he helped Amelia to her feet with the other arm. Carrying lily and assisting Amelia, he followed McGee out the door. Tony put his arm around Ziva, and she put hers around him, and together they helped each other out. And that was it, it was over. 


	9. Chapter 9

**So this is the final chapter… yeah… I'm really sorry if the end of this story didn't match up to your expectations… I've been distracted with school and projects and work and everything, so I'm really sorry. Back to the story, This is the final chapter and I am going to take a big break from posting, I am going to write a story and get everything into order before posting it. And thankyou so much to everyone who reviewed **

**One final request, it's the final chapter, could you find it in your heart to review? even if it's just saying hi, I really enjoy hearing what you guys have to say. So, goodbye for now. So long and thanks for all the fish.**

Steven Ireland stood up against the mirror of the interrogation room with his forehead pressed against the glass. He knew that there would be someone behind it, and he knew that he was staring straight at them.

Meanwhile on the other side of the two sided glass, Gibbs and Vance were standing, holding Stevens gaze.

"So this is the crazy bastard responsible for this mess?"

"Yep" Gibbs answered simply.

"How are David and DiNozzo holding up?"

"They'll be fine"

"...and what about Amelia and Lillian"

"There fine"

"Well do you want to get this show on the road?" Vance asked and without answering, Gibbs left the room and a few seconds later, entered into the interrogation room.

"Sit down" Gibbs ordered, throwing a Manilla folder down onto the table.

Steven turned slowly from his place against the glass, his black eyes were wide and wild. He smiled slightly and moved slowly, sitting down in the chair. Gibbs sat down on the other side and laid down photos from his folder of a what was left of a mangled and rotting body.

"Do you know who this is?" Gibbs asked harshly.

"No" Steven answered definitely and cold

"This is what's left of Andrew Parker"

Steven shrugged, not replying

"You two fought, What were those fights about?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing… Sir."

"Did it ever bother you that you two looked similar? Is that what the fights were about? Did it bother you that you got confused for each other?" Gibbs pushed forward one of the more graphic photos of the rotting corpse. "This Man, Andrew Parker, the man you set up, the man you murdered. He is your brother."

"That's a lie, My brother is Richard Ireland, he is not the man in that picture"

"Your adopted" Gibbs spat, disgusted at the man who sat in front of him. "Your parents died in a car crash when you were one, you were adopted out, Richard Ireland isn't your brother, this man here is, and YOU KILLED HIM!" Gibbs yelled, slamming his fist down on the table. Steven didn't even bat an eyelid. Gibbs stood up and started pacing. "your real name is Steven Parker. You shared each others looks, you shared a history, a history of mental illness, and it made you this. You murdered your own brother."

"Prove it." Steven said without emotion.

"DNA analysis confirms it, but you know what, I don't think you even give a damn. You ruined the life of the man you thought was your brother, the man who took you in, you murdered his daughter in cold blood without any provocation"

"Prove it" he said again

"You saw Andrew Parker kidnap 'your niece', you tracked him down and murdered him for it, and then you decided to use his hostages for your own sick revenge." Gibbs said in disgust, again, Steven did not react. Gibbs leant back in his chair, crossed his arms and stared into the cold, black eyes of Steven Parker. Neither broke the gaze, they just stared at each other for seconds, minutes even. Just staring at each other. Meanwhile in the other side of the Glass, DiNozzo had Joined Vance is the observation room.

"How are you DiNozzo?" Vance asked. Out of habit, or instinct, Tony raised his hand to his head to answer

"I'm fine Director." He smiled

"And David?"

Tony laughed, "Ziva's absolutely fine"

"You say that like it's a joke, DiNozzo"

"Ah, you and I both know how much Ziva hates pity." DiNozzo stoped talking and turned to watch the scene unfolding in the interrogation room, or lack of it depending on which way you looked at it. "How long has this been going on?" Tony asked, referring to the staring contest between Steven Parker and Gibbs.

"Not long. By the way, I'd like to congratulate your team on a job well done."

"My Team?" Tony chuckled

"You know what I mean, DiNozzo" Vance finished, nodding his head slightly and walking out of the room. In the other room, Steven stood up from his chair, still refusing to break eye contact.

"Sit down" Gibbs ordered, still in his seat.

Steven ignored him, breaking away his gaze and walking over to the mirror, returning to the position he had been in before Gibbs entered with his head up against the glass. Gibbs gave up, collecting the photos and swiftly exiting the room, leaving Steven behind to stare into the mirror.

Desk duty, the root of evil itself; the only thing Ziva hated more than desk duty was the duty of informing families of their loss, that was rough, but desk duty? Desk duty was long, boring and damn unexciting, it was absolutely nothing compared to the thrill of the chase, nothing compared to field work. Yes, desk duty was damn near unbearable, especially, when she had to spend the whole next week on desk duty, with Tony DiNozzo.

Yes, for some inconceivable reason the medical staff had decided that the risk was to great for the pair of them to do practical work, what with their serious concussions caused by the but of Steven Ireland's gun. Yes, Ziva had been put on desk duty with Tony because of a stupid hit on the head. She almost agreed with them for putting her out of the line of fire, her vision was still a little hazy at times and she had a few more days until she could finally take off the annoying brace on her hand, a precautionary measure. But to sideline Tony too? That was over the top, and was going to make the next week of Ziva's life a living hell.

"Well 'aint this going to be fun Zee-vah" Tony said cheerfully entering the sqaudroom with his childish grin. "A whole week! A whole week of desk duty and only each other to keep us company"

"Thankyou Tony" Ziva replied strained, unsure what she was thanking him for but hopping it would shut him up.

"A whole week" He smiled again "a whole week, can our believe it?"

"No Tony, I can not" She replied again, dry and uninterested.

"I hate paperwork, desk duty, the epitome of boredom but hey! Look on the bright side, I get to spend it with you" He grinned and threw a paper ball at her.

Batting the flying object away, Ziva stood up and walked over to Tony's desk. "You need to remember that this brace has a metal rod in it" she smiled menacingly. "so if I do this" She said as she pressed her injured hand down on his, he yelped and flinched away, holding his hand close to his body "It's going to hurt a lot" She smiled, hit him playfully over the head, turned around and trotted back to her desk.

"Why did you do that?" Tony whined, rubbing his hand.

"Because, Tony" She smiled "You and I will be spending a lot of time together the next week" she grinned widely "And if you are going to make my life difficult, I'm going to make yours very… uncomfortable"

"Right, got it Ziva" Tony frowned, wincing mentally.

"So, you two on desk duty together" McGee walked in gloating.

"That's enough McGee" Tony groaned, smiling then throwing another paper ball at Ziva and then yet another at McGee.

Ziva's phone rung and she picked it up "yes, yes, of course" She smiled and put down the receiver

"You have a new boyfriend Ziva?" Tony asked "That's the only reason I can think of that you would smile that much"

She picked up one of his paper balls and pitched it back at him with lightning speed, he flailed and tried to bat it away. "That, was the front desk, Amelia and Lily are on there way up to give there statements. They also want to thank us, for helping them."

"Sound's like you got attached" McGee suggested.

"They are two very nice, very brave girls, I took a liking to them"

The elevator dinged and Amelia and Lily walked out, soon followed by Gibbs who came out of the corridor behind the lift. They turned around to greet him before walking into the bullpen together. Amelia and Lily stopped as they entered, unsure, but Gibbs continued to his desk, putting his fresh cup of coffee down on his desk.

"How are you two going?" DiNozzo asked, standing up and chucking one final paper ball over the women at Ziva.

"We're fine" Amelia said cheerfully "Thank you so much for everything you did for us"

"Yeah, seriously, thank you so much"

"We're glad your both okay" Gibbs replied

Amelia and Lily smiled at each other. Both were immensely grateful for everything that NCIS had done for them, they were thankful that they had got out alive, and not been killed so… well killed like Anna and Brianna. But they had no idea how to express their feeling is words, and hoped that the team would understand.

"Thanks" Lily said again

"You better not tell them it was a fluke" McGee joked

"I hope you're both okay" Amelia said to Tony and Ziva

"We'd better be going" Lily suggested, tugging lightly at Amelia's arm.

"Are you to close now?" Tony asked

"We found out we're related" Amelia smiled "And I think we'll defiantly be seeing more of each other now."

"Thank you so much, again" Lily said

"Yeah, Thanks" And with that the pair left and started towards the interview room.

"Well aren't they nice" McGee grinned, everyone was in a good mood, the case was solved, the madman caught and young lives spared.

"Related? How can they be related?" DiNozzo asked confused.

"So" McGee started. "Andrew Parker tries to clear his name by making NCIS reopen his case by kidnapping the four women somehow related to the case. But he didn't know that Steven Ireland, a former co-worker was living with the family at the time. Steven saw Parker and confronted him, killing him and hiding his body here, in this river. Steven wanted revenge on NCIS for not helping him and so he used the hostages for his own plan. So now, it turns out that the reason Andrew wanted the case reopened is because he didn't actually rape Leah Williams, it was Steven, they often got confused for each other and somehow the mistake was made. Now, it turns out that the reason they looked alike and have the same mental illness is because they were brothers. So, does this all make any sense to anyone else? Cause for me it's all kind of…" he motioned his hand round and round in a circle. "Have I got everything?" he asked

"I think so…"

"Well, I'm off." Tony said, grabbing his pack and standing up to leave.

"Tony, it is only 6:30" Ziva complained.

"The case is over, I'm tired, my head hurts and that bloody dog still won't shut up. I'm crashing early tonight." And with that he walked out.

McGee also grabbed his bag and began to walk out "We'll have a new case by tomorrow, I need a rest. I bet you can't wait for the whole next week of Desk duty with Tony, ay?" he asked, walking out and just catching the elevator doors before they closed.

Ziva picked up her bag, sighing, saying a quick goodbye to Gibbs and walking away. And while Gibbs sat at his desk, alone in the room he couldn't help but regret the two young lives lost, innocent bystanders to a stupid dispute which could have been solved any other way, but has instead cost their lives. But this regret meant nothing, as the past was the past, and no matter what he could try there is nothing he can do to change it. Yes, two young women lost their lives meaninglessly. But he saved two others, two other women who would have died if not for his teams work. Yes, two young lives were lost, but two young lives were_ saved_. And that made him smile.


End file.
